Business of Sport: It was announced that the IOC inspection visits for the 2012 Olympic games will begin in February 2005.

The seven-member commission will start with Madrid before moving on to London, New York, Paris and Moscow before finally deciding which city will host the lucrative multi-billion dollar spectacle in July.

"Sport matters because nowhere than here is there such a passion for sport. I want that passion to become a passion to bring the Olympic games to Britain. We can win this bid," British Prime Minister Tony Blair told the Labour Party Conference at Brighton this week.

FIFA's Sepp Blatter has warned about the increasing power of football clubs in England, saying that the Football Association may be in a weak and vulnerable position.

"For wealthy clubs to try to emasculate the international game by seizing control of a national football association is unacceptable," said Blatter this week.

Meanwhile, the English Amateur Boxing Association are doing their best to hang onto their young prodigy and Olympic silver medallist, Amir Khan.

Despite being presented with a financial package worth £70,000 a year for the next four years, Frank Warren is believed to be close to signing a pro deal for the young boxer.

bizofsport@eircom.net

And there they were, knives at the ready, waiting for Bertie Ahern to cast John O'Donoghue aside. Thanks very much for your time, John O, you've been a sterling servant but you're needed to put out fires elsewhere. And so, in anticipation there they were slaving away, looking back on his decisions as minister, reviewing his legacy and his effect on the Irish sporting landscape since taking over in 2002.

With the obituary all but ready, Bertie goes and leaves the Caherciveen man in place. Not a sign of a move onwards, sideways or even downwards. What is a critic to do? Put up or shut up? Let sleeping dogs lie? John O'Donoghue may be disappointed he hasn't moved on and has to stay put with the sports portfolio for another few years, at least - and he wouldn't be alone in that - but now is the time to look back as a means of peering into the crystal ball for future developments. What is clear, for the rest of the lifetime of this Government at least, is that if you're involved with horse racing or greyhounds you can be guaranteed another few bob in your already well-lined pockets.

While many saw the final pay-off of sports grants to his local county in the final weeks before the summer as a sign that O'Donoghue was indeed moving on and looking to shore up any last bit of support in Kerry with a few sweeteners, the crux of the matter now for him is where to spread the love around in the last few years of his stewardship.

In the face of increasing pressure from Independent TD Jackie Healy-Rae in his Kerry South constituency, the question now is, does he look to continue to pump money into his native localities, or will the remainder of his tenure be marked by a more expansive vision looking to oversee vital infrastructure projects so badly needed.

Or will he keep feeding his habits and continue handing out money to horse racing and greyhound racing so he can rest in easy retirement post 2007 knowing he'll be guaranteed a cosy welcome at any race track, anywhere in the country, on any day of the week? Oh, dilemmas, dilemmas.

But have we a clear vision for sport, one wonders, for the coming years? Is the sports portfolio in danger of becoming a haven for easy comforts and easy living where hobbies and whims can be easily satisfied, or can we expect visionary action and leadership that will see Irish sport through a potentially rocky but equally vital period over the coming years?

By 2007, we will know more about the completion date of Lansdowne Road, but in the meantime a temporary home for Irish rugby and soccer fixtures will have to be found. Croke Park will be completed and the GAA looking to eradicate its stadium debt and who knows, maybe even Rule 42 will have passed into history by then.

We will have the most modern and best-equipped racing tracks across the country and most state-of-the-art greyhound stadiums to complement them. And while vices such as smoking and drinking will be severely cracked down upon, gambling will rise and rise as a new national problem is found. The new racetracks will have to be profit-making and so campaigns and ads will be wheeled out to get the punters through the turnstiles.

But don't expect a Micheál Martin-type solution to any future problem anytime soon. The two per cent Government off-course betting levy goes straight into the Horse Racing and Greyhound Fund.

So as betting reaches epidemic proportions and becomes a national obsession, the Government turns a blind eye in the full knowledge that the more that is bet, the more the horse and greyhound industry gets funded. The more they get funded the bigger the prize money and the better the stadiums. The bigger the prize money, the happier the owners. The better the stadiums, the bigger the crowds. The bigger the crowds, the bigger the betting and the bigger the betting, the bigger the tax. And the bigger the tax the more for the racing and greyhound sectors.

In the end, our pockets will get lighter and our problems exacerbated while the owners fatten their pockets and cream off some more from the tax-free breeding status.

And how do we know this? Because already one third of the sports budget is given to the Horse and Greyhound Fund. Amounting to over €60 million this year, there will be a guaranteed funding of €300 million over the next four years after the fund was extended for another four years until 2008. In 2000, the then minister for finance, Charlie McCreevy, explained his stance on the financing of horse racing: "If it is not done, racing will be at the whim of the Government of the day and, when the pressure comes for expenditure on things like health and education, racing will go down the political priorities list."

With the new softer-focus Cabinet now looking to extend its funding for such issues as health and education, and with McCreevy safely shipped off to Europe, what chance then that his successor Brian Cowen will be so amenable to opening up the purse strings to horse racing and greyhounds? Better not take your chances.

And it was timely indeed that one of the last acts of McCreevy's era was to agree to continuing the system of funding the horses and dogs to the tune of €550 million. Better to work the system and know when you're enemies are going to be close at hand. Having safely tied up the funding for racing for another four years, O'Donoghue can rest easy knowing the main battle for sports funding has been won before a single shot was fired.

He may not be relishing the future skirmishes that lie ahead as he fights for finances for the other sports but O'Donoghue, unhappy enough he has been left behind in the sport's department, can at least rest easy knowing his main friends in the racing and greyhound sectors are already being looked after for the remainder of his tenure.

265p - High reached this week of Manchester United's share price upon announcement of pre-tax profits of £27.9 million (down from £39.3 million the previous year)

"When in doubt, punt."

50 - America's most respected sports magazine, Sports Illustrated, reaches 50 years of publication.